The Online Shopping Thread

This is a discussion on The Online Shopping Thread within Gadgets, Computers & Software, part of the Shifting gears category; Originally Posted by Kumar R
There the sellers may well have lawfully originated the products but are able to sell ...

There the sellers may well have lawfully originated the products but are able to sell it below MRP for various reasons (less overheads, more efficiency in ops, etc.) -- and this has diverted sales from the B&M shops. Such a practice is not and cannot be barred by contract -- it would amount to price-fixing which is very much illegal.

IANAL, but you are.

Look at para 20 of the commission's order. It says, in essence, that warranty can be limited to products sold via "authorized national distributors". So it seems to me that, if I were a B&M store owner, all I need to do is to pressurize the OEM (with a little help from my trade association) to include a clause in the distributor appointment agreement that "you will not distribute to retailers who retail through e-commerce portals" (not in so many words perhaps, but via clauses that would essentially achieve the same thing - for example, by specifying minimum showroom sizes and so on). I suspect such a maneuvre would be entirely legal.

Look at para 20 of the commission's order. It says, in essence, that warranty can be limited to products sold via "authorized national distributors". So it seems to me that, if I were a B&M store owner, all I need to do is to pressurize the OEM (with a little help from my trade association) to include a clause in the distributor appointment agreement that "you will not distribute to retailers who retail through e-commerce portals" (not in so many words perhaps, but via clauses that would essentially achieve the same thing - for example, by specifying minimum showroom sizes and so on). I suspect such a maneuvre would be entirely legal.

Hmm, these are risky strategies. A lot of EU / US watchdogs haul up companies for such restrictions, especially where they appear not to have any link to the product. (i.e. maybe JLR can specify minimum standards for a Jaguar showroom) but not a fruit juice maker (just saying).

Our own law says that any agreement that "restricts, or is likely to restrict, by any method the persons or classes of persons to whom goods are sold or from whom goods are bought" may be illegal if it has an adverse effect on competition. Any OEM, I imagine, would be very cautious before putting such things into writing.

Well, the CCI order gives the OEMs the way out. It says (para 19) that protecting the sanctity of a distribution channel cannot be considered as abusive; it can only be considered as protecting one's brand image and goodwill. So if Dell or Lenovo or any other OEM considers that a showroom where its products are displayed to aesthetic and functional advantage is part of protecting its brand image, can anyone argue against it without substantial litigation expenses?

The retailers should realize that they are not in the business of operating showrooms; they are in the business of delivering the right product to the customer at the right price. If they are losing footfalls in their showrooms then the correct approach is to relocate to where the footfalls are - online, not force reluctant customers back into their showrooms.

Just now called Flipkart as I wanted to buy the TP-Link W8968 model and it was available at it's lowest price today, i.e. 1963/-

Even I was planning to buy the same router. Price stayed at 1963 for the whole day. Seller was WS Retail. It was only in the evening that the price got bumped up. Reason..WS Retail was no more in the seller list.

Btw, its back again at 1963. Seller WS Retail.

Also, it does mention the Antenna to be of 5db. We can always buy it. Verify if the information is wrong, return it.

Well, the CCI order gives the OEMs the way out. It says (para 19) that protecting the sanctity of a distribution channel cannot be considered as abusive; it can only be considered as protecting one's brand image and goodwill.

The complainant who went to CCI and returned empty-handed seems not to have been sourcing his products from an authorised distributor (that's why it is such a short order). In para 11 there is some reference to the complainant pointing a finger at other online retailers with whom Sandisk apparently has no problem, citing differential treatment. Later in para 22 the CCI has said that the informant could not prove that these other online retailers were not sourcing their stuff from an authorised distributor -- so apparently, those chaps are not, for the time being, affected by any denial of warranty by Sandisk.

There may be agreements by manufacturers (like Sandisk) restricting distributors from selling to 'online' retailers and manufacturers may be be denying warranty even to products sourced from authorised distributors but sold online - only time will tell whether they are enforceable - but I do not think this order says that's ok.

My Amazon package finally arrived today, a full 16 days after ordering and 4 days after their own committed delivery date.

Just my luck that it wasn't a fragile item. Packing was terrible and both the cardboard wrap and OEM plastic case were damaged. I opened the package and paid only after verifying the product itself isn't damaged.

Terrible experience throughout. Just reinforces my view of sticking to retail and sticking up two fingers to e-retail.

Had ordered a Jopasu wash mitt from their eBay store. Purchased on 13th October, was shipped on the next day and Blue Dart attempted delivery on the 20th but since my apartment is locked during the day, they left instead of handing over the package to the caretaker. No calls or we-missed-you slips either. Sometimes they do it and sometimes they don’t. I happened to know Blue Dart turned up because eBay sent a mail!

I did not bother contacting Blue Dart since the Diwali weekend was here. They finally called me yesterday afternoon and insisted that the package be delivered to me after verifying the identity. I told the delivery guy this was just a car washing cloth and he handed over the package to the caretaker. Blue Dart’s deliveries are a hit or miss at times!

My Amazon package finally arrived today, a full 16 days after ordering and 4 days after their own committed delivery date.

Was your delivery done through Amazon itself or by any third party couriers (Gati, Aramex etc). Asking due to a similar experience of mine.

Ordered 4 packages from Amazon on 10 Oct with delivery of 3 to be in Bangalore and one to Calicut Kerala.

The Calicut package was delivered on 3rd day of booking to Calicut by Amazon delivery itself

Now, the other 3 delivers was supposed to be done by Gati (1 package) and Aramex (2 packages).

Now, for the first 10 days the packages were displayed as packed / processing /ready for dispatch etc.Then packages were shown to be in Bangalore on tracking them since 22nd Oct, now by this time Amazon delivery timeline had already expired.

However thought it may be due to Diwali rush and thought of waiting for few more days. Waited till yesterday and no change in status. Hence a full 19 days after booking and 3 customer calls to Amazon and one to Gati later I cancelled the order yesterday morning.

Should say cancelling process via chat was smooth and got the cash back mail soon. Strangely by yesterday evening the courier guy (Aramex) calls and informs the package will be delivered by evening. Informed that it is cancelled hence wont be taking delivery.

Today got call regarding the same package, informed the same again. No news about the Gati courier though.

I been a regular user of Flipkart, Myntra , Jabong and Indiaplaza.in before that, this was my first experience with Amazon and may be the last shopping with them.

Pleasant return experience with Myntra.com :
My wife had ordered a dress. Delivery was received on time but the size of dress was too large. Hence created a return request on their website. Mentioned the return reason and was given two options 1. either ship it yourself or 2. myntra courier guy will pick it up
I opted for the 2nd option and was given a RMA number.
After couple of days the courier guy collected the dress, checked it and by end of day credit was initiated to my credit card.

This was first time I had such a pleasant experience of return in India.

Who should be blamed for the delay here? FK or BlueDart given, that the product was shipped on the same day of placing the order?

Cheers,
-Shivang Gandotra

I think BlueDart is to be blamed
Here is the status of my order

Hopefully it will be delivered today. I think in order to get the best experience from Flipkart, you should buy from WS Retail and hope that the logistic provider is ekart.
BTW, what were the 2 offers that you got?

I am having a strange problem with Amazon now . I bought a product through them on 20th October and it was dispatched through Gati on 22nd. But after that there is no update on where my product is. The docket number updated for tracking is also invalid. I spoke to CC couple of times and they confirmed that they will escalate and sort it soon. the product was suppose to be delivered on 28th as per their update in my account. Still waiting for their response, the status of my product is dispatched and didn't move further since last 1 week .

Was your delivery done through Amazon itself or by any third party couriers (Gati, Aramex etc). Asking due to a similar experience of mine.

Amazon's own delivery. Arrived in damaged packaging and no apologies for either the delay or the damage.

I don't mind if a package takes a few days to deliver or delayed as long as there's a valid reason involved but this whole circus was clearly meant to frustrate a user so they shift to paying for expedited delivery. How else can they explain delivering my package EIGHT days after it arrived in Bangalore? I can understand delays in shipping at source or inter-city transit due to logistical constraints, but I can't fathom the logic behind holding an in-transit parcel for a week+ in the destination city post-arrival.